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Davontae Sanford confessed and pleaded guilty in the 2007 slaying of four people in a drug house on Runyon Street in Detroit. He was 14 at the time, was learning disabled and was known for spinning stories.
Two weeks after heading to prison, hit man Vincent Smothers confessed to the killings and said Sanford had no role in the murders.
On Tuesday, Wayne County Circuit Judge Brian Sullivan vacated the 2008 convictions and sentence of 37 to 90 years, and ordered the Department of Corrections to immediately release Sanford on his own recognizance. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said she will move to dismiss the charges. WDIV reports that he will be released Wednesday morning.
"Today, justice finally arrives for the Sanford family. No one can give Davontae Sanford and his family back the nine years he has spent in jail for a crime he did not commit, but the Court's decision today corrects a grave injustice. The entire legal team is thrilled that he will not spend another day in prison for a crime he did not commit," Heidi Naasko, pro bono counsel for the law firm, Dykema Gossett, said in a press release. The firm is working with the Michigan Innocence Clinic, the Northwestern Center for the Wrongful Convictions of Youth and the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office.
In a statement, Worthy said that her office had asked the Michigan State Police to investigate the case on May 4, 2015 after Sanford's attorneys filed a motion to vacate his conviction::
One year later, on May 20, 2016, the State Police submitted a report of their investigation. Included in that report is a recorded interview in which former Deputy Chief James Tolbert contradicts his sworn testimony that Davontae Sanford drew the entire diagram of the crime scene, including the location of the victims' bodies, while being questioned by the police. This called into question Tolbert’s credibility in the case. Recognizing the importance of that testimony, attorneys from the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office worked with Davontae Sanford's attorneys from Dykema Gossett to move to dismiss his case.
Today, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and the defense attempted to file a stipulated order to dismiss all charges against Sanford, without prejudice. However, Wayne County Third Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan signed an order vacating Sanford’s conviction and sentence, and directing that the Michigan Department of Corrections immediately release Sanford on his own recognizance. The court ordered the People to file a Motion to Dismiss the Case, which the court will review.
Worthy plans a 10 a.m. press conference to explain why she dismissed the charges.
